The debate over FBI director James Comey’s new Clinton email letter, explained

And here I was thinking that the FBI investigation into Hillary’s emails pertained to her using a private server. What is the FBI going to do next — get a warrant for Trump’s computers to see if he emailed Hillary?

On Friday, FBI Director James Comey sent a three-paragraph letter to several members of Congress, in which he said that new emails related to the Hillary Clinton email investigation had been discovered.

The timing of Comey’s letter — sent just 11 days before the presidential election — created a media and political firestorm, and seemed to pose the prospect of some sort of smoking gun deeply implicating Clinton that could swing the election.

But as more facts have emerged after hours of leaks from anonymous government officials tovariousmediaoutlets, it’s become pretty clear that what actually happened is not necessarily all that earth-shaking. Namely:

The new batch of emails is from a laptop that Clinton aide Huma Abedin shared with her husband, former Congressman Anthony Weiner.

The FBI came upon them because they’re investigating Weiner’s reported sexting of an underage girl…

This is just the beginning. The Washington Times is reporting, ” “The FBI agents investigating Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server knew early this month that messages recovered in a separate probe might be germane to their case, but they waited weeks before briefing the FBI director, according to people familiar with the case..”

The NY Times has published the following: A non partisan, Law Professor Richard Painter who has voted mostly republican but is voting for HRC this year has filed a complaint against the FBI and its Director with the Office of Special Counsel , which investigates Hatch Act violations, and with the Office of Government Ethics. Professor Painter worked as the chief White HOUSE ethics lawyer for President George W. Bush.

MY OPINION

The pundits have been arguing that Director Comey is well respected by both sides of the aisle because he has a reputation for being a straight shooter and reasonable, His defenders say, “Well he would have been in trouble if this information came out after the election if he had not informed the congress ahead of time.”

But just frame the question a little differently. What if Director Comey finds out that all the newly discovered emails are duplicates already in the FBI’s possession and/ or there are no classified data involved or there is no relevance to the prior case. How does the FBI correct the damage done to HRC, the democratic process and the reputation of the FBI as a non partisan entity?.

For all Director Comey’s knows, as of right now, the 2nd scenario is probably more likely than the first one. This is why I am convinced that he acted foolishly and without sound judgment in this particular case by acting against protocol and over the strong objections of the DOJ officials. He needs to fix this mess before compounding a wrong,.

Gronda,
Thanks so much for the information. I know you’ve blogged about Hillary’s emails in great detail. Personally, I was never concerned about whether she used a private server or government server. It looks like no matter the server, if anyone wants to hack into the emails of the Democrats, they do. Speaking of the hacks, I see them as Watergate which was a crime, and therefore have not read anything about the content of the emails. In fact, I wish that Comey would direct his attention into the hacks rather than what Weiner’s wife emailed to Hillary from their laptop.